Saturday Prayer: the fountain of peace

image: Fountain of Peace by Michelle Strasser

May we drink deeply from the fountain of peace,

Know peace deeply in ourselves,

Live in peace with our neighbors,

Create peace in the world.

We bless the Holy One,

Creator of wholeness, Source of Peace.

May you guard my tongue from evil,

And my lips from speaking lies.

Help me ignore the taunts of my foes,

And to forgive those who wrong me.

Open my heart to the wisdom of your word,

So that my feet will follow the path of righteousness.

May all who study destruction have their designs frustrated,

May this happen for the sake of the holiness of the world.

May the words of my mouth

And the meditations of my heart

Remain true and loving

And be acceptable in your sight.

May your light show us the way

To bring peace to all.

from "Siddur for Evening Shabbat" by Rabbi Maria Prager, as printed in "God Has No Religion" edited by Frances S Goulart

Saturday musical prayer: not forgotten

saturday: for peace

As more news pours out of Norway, and as violence continues in Syria and Libya and the Congo and Mexico and Colombia and in our own streets and towns, we pray for those who live in fear. We also pray for peace founded on justice to reign, sooner rather than later.

Creator of all,

you look with great love on all your people
of whatever race, culture and religion.
We ask you to bless us this day
and send your Holy Spirit upon us
and upon all the diverse peoples of our world:
the Spirit of peace and justice,
of understanding and reconciliation.
May people of violence
allow themselves to be touched
by the plight of those who suffer,
and may your Spirit help broaden the horizons
and deepen the understanding of us all.
We make this our prayer
through Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

prayer by Nicholas Hutchinson, found here.

To pray for Norway with the World Council of Churches, click here.

Saturday--alive through love

"In my vision I saw something small. No bigger than a hazelnut, it lay in the palm of my hand, round as a ball. Looking at it with the eye of my understanding, I wondered, 'What is that?' I was given to understand it is everything in creation. That this minute thing lasted at all amazed me. It was so tiny, it looked like it would suddenly vanish into nothing.

"Concerning this tiny, hazelnut-sized cosmos, I received this answer in my soul, 'It lasts and always will because God loves it.' I saw then that everything's alive through God's love. The little thing I saw that seemed like it could vanish into nothingness because of its insubstantiality, this little thing is why our hearts and souls don't know perfect peace.

"We seek rest here in this very little thing, in which there is no rest, and we don't know our God, who is almighty, all wise, and all good--God is the only true Rest. That's why no soul is at rest until it scorns as nothing all created things.

"When the soul becomes the nothing God wants the soul to be--for love--when it wants instead to possess the Lord, who is everything, then it can accept spiritual rest"

~Julian of Norwich, Revelations~

meaning

Would you like to know your Lord's meaning?

Okay, then know it well. The Lord's meaning is love. Love is God's only meaning.

Who shows this to you? Love.

What did God show you? Love.

And why God show it to you? For love.

Stay in God's love, then, and you'll learn more about its unconditional, unending, joyful nature. And you'll see for yourself, all manner of things will be well.

~Julian of Norwich, from Revelations~

Saturday Prayer

Teach me work that honors Thy work,
the true economies of goods and words,
to make my arts compatible
with the songs of the local birds.

Teach me patience beyond work
and, beyond patience, the blest
Sabbath of The unresting love
which lights all things and gives rest.
-Wendell Berry, from Given

Saturday Prayer

Almighty God, Father of mercies and giver of all comfort:
Deal graciously, we pray thee, with all those who mourn, that casting every care on thee, they may know the consolation of thy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-BCP p. 489

Saturday Prayer, for Earth Day

God of creation, the earth is yours
with all its beauty and goodness,
its rich and overflowing provision.

But we have claimed it for our own,
plundered its beauty for profit,
grabbed its resources for ourselves.

God of creation, forgive us.
May we no longer abuse your trust,
but care gently and with justice for your earth.
-Jan Berry

Saturday Prayer: Courage

Empower me
to be a bold participant,
rather than a timid saint in waiting
in the difficult ordinariness of now;
to exercise the authority of honesty,
rather than to defer to power,
or deceive to get it;
to influence someone for justice,
rather than impress anyone for gain;
and, by grace, to find treasures
of joy, of friendship, of peace
hidden in the fields of the daily
you give me to plow.
-Ted Loder

Prayer of Wonder

Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and all the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we prove the mysteries of your creation, we may come to know you more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-BCP p. 827

Cross-posted to The Kitchen Door.

Saturday Prayer

Move our hearts with the calm, smooth flow of your grace. Let the river of your love run through our souls. May my soul be carried by the current of your love, towards the wide, infinite ocean of heaven.

Stretch out my heart with your strength, as you stretch out the sky above the earth. Smooth out any wrinkles of hatred or resentment. Enlarge my soul that it may know more fully your truth.

-Gilbert of Hoyland, died 1170

Commencement Prayer

"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God" (Ecclesiastes 2: 24-25a).

Dear Savior, bless all those who begin a new stage in their lives. Teach them to know you as the true wisdom of God that has come down from heaven. Lead them to find fulfillment in their daily walks with you, rather than in worldly success. And increase in them the understanding that, because we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth, the things of this world are not an end in themselves, but are a means of preparing for the commencement of the life to come. Amen.

Wisconsin Eastern Lutheran Synod (WELS) prayer for commencement.

I pray today for my friends Amy (Elastigirl) and Mary, and their classmates at SMU's Perkins School of Theology; and for all seminary students who are graduating at this time of year, including RevGal Mibi52.

May each and every one of them find useful and satisfying work in the service of God's people in the world, and may the world's blindnesses (sexism, ageism, discrimination against GLBT persons and others) be healed.

--If you know of other seminary students preparing for graduation, please share their names/pseudonyms in the comments.

Pray for today

I ran across a thought from Gregory of Nyssa.
He said when Jesus taught us what we call the Lord’s prayer,
He said Jesus was teaching us to pray for today.
Just today.

God of Creation,
I pray for today in all its glory.
That I have enough.
That my sins be forgiven
That I learn to focus on this day,
This path,
These steps.
For it is enough.
Amen

Steven Masters, Adventures of a Dedicated Soul

Prayer of St. Clare

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!
Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!
Place your heart in the figure of divine substance!
And transform your entire being into the image of the
Godhead itself through contemplation.
Most high, glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart, and give me Lord,
a correct faith,
a certain hope,
a perfect charity, sense and knowledge,
so that I may carry out
Your holy and true desires.

- from The Casa Franciscan Renewal Center website

My Morning Prayer

Dear God,

Thank you for loving me and being my friend.
Thank you for helping me.
Help me to be your person in the world today.

Amen.

The Raising of Lazarus

- The Raising of Lazarus, Caravaggio

In some calendars, this event is commemorated today, the Saturday before Palm Sunday.

Lord, help us to prepare for death and new life.

Psalm 67

To the leader: with stringed instruments.
A Psalm.
A Song.

1May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
Selah

2that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations.

3Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

4Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.
Selah

5Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

6The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.

7May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.

A prayer for discernment

O, Lord,
I do not know what to ask you.
You alone know my real needs,
and you love me more
than I even know how to love.
Enable me to discern my true needs
which are hidden from me.
I ask for neither cross nor consolation;
I wait in patience for you.
My heart is open to you.
For your great mercy's sake,
come to me and help me.
Put your mark on me and heal me,
cast me down and raise me up.
Silently I adore your holy will
and your inscrutable ways.
I offer myself in sacrifice to you
and put all my trust in you.
I desire only to do your will.
Teach me how to pray
and pray in me, yourself.

--Vasily Drosdov Philaret, c. 1780 - 1867

Saturday Prayer

Earth-shaking, sky-rumbling, all-powerful Trinity:
Behold your Church.

We thank you for claiming for yourself
servants from every nation and time
to be a royal priest dedicated to your service.
Lord of glory,
send us out to do the work you have given us to do.

We thank you for our common vocation
of giving witness to your coming reign.
Lord of glory,
send us out to do the work you have given us to do.

Sift us like wheat,
convert the catechumens,
turn homeward the penitents
and welcome those who are strangers.
Lord of glory,
send us out to do the work you have given us to do.

Clothe your Church with words and deeds that free and heal.

Lord of glory,
come in your might.

Light our lamps with the oil of your Spirit.
Lord of glory,
come in your might.

Make us and all your Church vigilant and alert for your knocking on doors.
Lord of glory,
come in your might.

Loving and merciful God,
hear the prayers of those who cry to you, and shine with the light of your presence on those who live in the shadow of death.
May we rejoice in your saving help
and sing you songs of praise
in the Name of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

-Stephen Benner

Saturday Prayer - O Creator past all telling

O creator past all telling,

you have appointed from the treasures of your wisdom

the hierarchies of angels,

disposing them in wondrous order above the bright heavens,

and have so beautifully set out all parts of the universe.
You we call the true fount of wisdom

and the noble origin of all things.

Be pleased to shed on the darkness of mind in which I was born,

The twofold beam of your lightand warmth to dispel my ignorance and sin.
You make eloquent the tongues of children.

Then instruct my speech and touch my lips with graciousness.

Make me keen to understand, quick to learn,

able to remember;

make me delicate to interpret and ready to speak.
Guide my going in and going forward,

lead home my going forth.You are true God and true man,

and live for ever and ever.

--St Thomas Aquinas, 1225-74